Castiglioni, Ḥayyim
CASTIGLIONI, ḤAYYIM
CASTIGLIONI, ḤAYYIM (Vittorio ; 1840–1911), Italian rabbi and writer. Castiglioni, who was a disciple of Samuel David *Luzzatto, taught mathematics and pedagogy in his native Trieste for 32 years until appointed chief rabbi of Rome in 1903. He wrote Pe'er ha-Adam ("Glory of Man," 1892), a discussion of Darwin's theories, and scholarly articles in Hebrew that dealt mostly with the relationship between religion and the natural sciences. Castiglioni published a book of 126 sonnets entitled Nizmei Zahav (1906), including several sonnets in Italian with Hebrew translation, one of which commemorates the death of Herzl. He was a patron of Italian Jewish writers, encouraged the publication of some of the works of Samuel David Luzzatto, including his letters, and translated Luzzatto's history of the Hebrew language Toledot Leshon Ever from the original Hebrew to Italian (1895).
[Getzel Kressel]